The Soc Son temple is situated in Ve Linh village, Phu Linh commune which now belongs to Soc Son district, a suburban district of Hanoi. The temple is dedicated to the Giong God, Phu GiongThien Vuong.

Starting from Hanoi one can go to Ve Linh village by following Highway No 1, crossing Chuong Duong and Duong bridges, then turning left and following Highway No 3, crossing Phu Lo bridge and on reaching Ma market (located at kilometre 29 of the same highway), turning left again.

The Soc Son temple is surrounded by mountains: Cao Tung to the south, Cam to the east, Co Ngua to the west, and the Rua and an area of flat land to the south-east. In the ancient past, these mountains were covered with thick forests. The area is also watered by two rivers: one flowing from the north-west to the south-east, the other from the west to the south.

The legend says that after defeating the An invaders, hero Giong galloped to the top of Soc Mountain, hung his suit of armour on a sandalwood tree, and vanished into the sky with his iron horse.

In commemoration of the event, a festival is held every year in Soc Son temple, involving festivity, the Moc Duc ceremony, the Bamboo Flowers procession, the Elephant procession, the Betel Plant procession, the Paper Boat rituals, and the Beheading of the Enemy Commander.

The ceremony is designed to scent and cleanse the statues of the temple. To this end, people from two villages (Ve Linh and Phu Ma) put seven pots of sandalwood in front of the temple, then burn a bundle of incense sticks. Then, as a religious rite, a few people would perform a dance with the incense sticks in their hands and use a mirror to shed light into the back chamber.

Ten villages from two districts of Soc Son and Kim Anh take part in this procession, where priority is given to Ve Linh, Phu Ma and Thanh Lai villages of Soc Son district, while the place of the other villages in the procession is determined by the time of their arrival at the assembly place.

There are artificial flowers woven with bamboo lath. After the procession, each village contingent put one bamboo flower in the altar while the remaining are thrown in the air so that fellow villagers can snatch them in a free-for-all scramble. Only members of a given village can scramble for bamboo flowers produced by that village.

From various indications, this ceremony seems to be related to religious beliefs, the bamboo flower symbolising the Linga, as is the case of flowers used in human fertility ceremonies. This explains why there is scramble for the bamboo flowers.

Three villages contribute resources to the ceremony. On festival day, villagers from Duoc Thuong village, Tien Duoc commune, bring to the temple an elephant made of bamboo lath to serve as a cult instrument, whereas the elephant offered last year is burned. The leader of the procession, ‘Ban Lenh,’ must find a good piece of white wood, usually mo wood, and on the 5^th January of lunar year gets the people of Phu Hau village to turn that one-metre long piece of wood into two elephant tusks which are then carried to the temple by two unmarried young men who are preceded by two palanquins carried by two other unmarried young men. On the same day, villagers of An Sao villager, Tan Minh commune, bring to the temple two banana trees which symbolise the food for the elephants. After the ceremony, the banana trees are planted at the temple.

Women monks, walking in a solemn cortege, carry from Tien Duoc village a betel plant to the temple, as an offering to the mother of the Giong God.

This ceremony is performed by people of Yen Minh village. Paper boats are produced and brought to the temple, each boat containing a number of dummies holding oars and weapons. After putting the boats in front of the temple and positioning the dummies in a prostrate position in the direction of the altar (by pulling wires), the carriers must run home as quickly as possible. Thereafter, the paper boats and dummies are burned. (The carriers have to run away because according to the legend, the dummies represent villagers from Tan Minh hamlet who followed the Giong God in fighting the invaders, and therefore, the spirits of these dummies may enter the bodies of the carriers)

This is a ceremony performed by people of Yen Tang village, Bac Phu commune.

The ceremony originates from the legend which says that the An invaders were led by 28 female commanders (and in the Giong festival held in Hanoi, An invaders are usually symbolised by 28 girls).

To this end, two unmarried girls, aged 12-16 are selected in advance. The girls must, as a rule, lead a pure life throughout the year in anticipation of the event. In the early hours of January 7 (lunar year) the villagers of Yen Tang carry palanquins to the temple, accompanied by the two girls. After the ceremony is performed in the temple, the girls are brought to the foot of the mountain where they are seated on a chair. After the leader of the ceremony finishes his prayers, a flag signal is given and thereupon, somebody hits the leg of the chair with his knife. The two girls fall down from the chair and their relatives have to carry them home as quickly as possible.